8 Species With Awful Names

Everyone's got a unique name, but these 8 species got dealt some pretty unfortunate ones. Join Hank Green for a new episode of SciShow!
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[@SciShow]

Thanks to the commenters pointing out our mistranslation of the German "Blindschleiche"! Schleiche doesn't mean snake, but rather, "sneak", though in this case, it's just the German word for these animals.

[@SarimDeLaurec]

@@miekekuppen9275 That might be, but it does not derive from blind. Fom it's old high german root it would be shiny sneak(er). German is full of things that sound like modern german, but derive from other roots and have therefore other meanings.

[@threesixtydegreeorbits2047]

HF_Alex Alex with the facts, Yo!

[@jimmyshrimbe9361]

Seems you weren’t exactly wrong, though.

[@RickySTT]

Did you get how to pronounce “Dominica”?

[@PRdeSO]

Walnuts, they're Walmart's nuts

[@t.vinters3128]

"Snake Lily" is goth. "Corpse flower" is straight-out gore-metal.

[@devinm.6149]

"Snake Lily" is emo, "Corpse Flower" is goth, how it's used can make gore- metal.

[@genthefrog18]

devil's tongue is the metal one

[@TheRealArtimusKnight]

Corpse flower sounds like a really shitty emo band

[@justayoutuber1906]

I cross-bred the two and got a "mishapen penis that smells like death". But the plant turned out fine.

[@ninaexmachina]

@@justayoutuber1906 welp, according to text in this video, the corpse flower is already the misshapen penis that smells like death! Specifically, *giant* misshapen penis that smells like death. So I guess you've got two and a half now, though I can't speak to all their sizes...

[@thatdarnskag5043]

The biologists just went full “tastes like chicken” meme when naming that frog.

[@macnutz4206]

I suspect that biologists did not come up with that name any more than biologists refer to hog testes as "mountain oysters". :):)

[@rebootmyth8753]

The Chinese term for frog meat (like how pork is to pig) is literally "paddy field chicken"

[@aliceignis]

who started this "tastes like chicken" anyway?

[@BobBob-pj3qo]

Alice Ignis i’m pretty sure its from the NZ movie the hobbit where the trolls say “everything tastes like chicken except chicken which taste like fish”

[@arthas640]

i always hated that "tastes like chicken" label. Some reptiles can taste a _little_ like white meat bird like chickens, but even frogs legs (the most famous example) doesn't taste much like chicken, the meat is softer, moister, and has a little bit of a fresh water fish kind of flavor, the only thing they have in common is a similar texture and color.

[@tardiskeeper6]

"seems we call any long noodly creature a worm" made me laugh

[@Brother-Lamp]

I have a large green pant worm

[@jessicaevans7847]

But only snakes be of the family "danger noodle".

[@suelane3628]

Vermicelli.

[@logitech4873]

The Norwegian name for dragonfly is "øyenstikker", which means "eye stabber" The name made me very afraid of them as a kid.

[@snowball_from_earth]

The English name "Earwig" is also already terrifying enough without having it translated to ear-pincher or liteally ear-burrower... Thanks German language...

[@andrewsheng5341]

Snowball well earwigs actually get in your ear though so the name is kinda warranted

[@snowball_from_earth]

@@andrewsheng5341 they could, but they don't.

[@sogerc1]

Well, in Hungarian a dragonfly is called a "sieve maker", I mean WTF? Even eye stabber is better than that. Maybe it reminded our ancestors to a big needle that was used to make strainers, I'm just speculating.

[@shimapaws]

@@andrewsheng5341 That is actually a myth, since earwigs are pretty much harmless.

[@Asterius_101]

"It's more than 2 but still very few" -Me describing my braincells

[@Goobyster]

-me describing my chromosomes

[@heccinchonkercat]

-me describing my friends

[@Ratciclefan]

You win the internet

[@52flyingbicycles]

“(Walnuts) are also not walls” *Plants vs Zombies wants to know your location*

[@kindredtoast3439]

Apparently he's never played.

[@TeamLegacyFTW]

@@kindredtoast3439 lmaoo

[@user-ld1sn6ur5i]

Tallnuts?

[@KentuckyFriedChildren]

@@kindredtoast3439 What a Degenerate.

[@dandylionwine]

You can tell how long the strawberry thing has been bothering Hank by how quickly this video turns from taxonomic clarification into exasperated pedantry.

[@Ghorda9]

it's also not the first video either.

[@CartoonViolence6]

But did you see the hair next to the fuzzies next to the center seed?

[@KryssLaBryn]

The thing about the name for strawberries (and walnuts) is that they're actually from the Anglo-Saxons (and thus far predate any kind of taxonomic classification that would consider them anything but a nut or berry, so one can't really get upset that a name that is around 1500 years old doesn't fit in well with classifications devised only in the last couple centuries). But "strawberries" originally meant something closer to "strewn berries", referring to the way they appear to be strewn across the ground. And "walnut" means "foreign nut"; they were imported, unlike more familiar nuts like hazelnuts. The "wal" that means "foreign" is the same word as the "wal" in "Wales". "Welsh" means "foreigners" in Anglo-Saxon, because that's what the native inhabitants (who ended up getting pushed west) that the Anglo-Saxons ran into were to them. Not Angles or Saxons or Jutes; therefore foreign. XD

[@alisoncircus]

@@KryssLaBryn I had heard that strawberries got the "straw" part from the fact that laying down straw under the plant keeps the fruit from getting moldy from contact with the ground - which I already had my doubts about because a) wild strawberries hold their fruit a good 2-5 inches above the ground, b) domestic strawberries are only a couple hundred years removed from wild ones, and they're only a few decades removed from the size and growth patterns of their ancestors, and c) I'm a lazy gardener, and none of the strawberries I ever grew ever seemed to require straw. Or benefit from it, either, since if you don't pick them on time they will mold, and if you let them sit in the dish too long they will mold. In fact whatever you do with them other than eat them, they will mold eventually, even with sugar and pectin added. So, too long, didn't read: thank you for an explanation that actually makes sense in the face of the evidence.

[@vgil1278]

@@KryssLaBryn So interesting!

[@tmutant]

Peanut: Not a pea, or a nut. It is a legume, like peas, but not closely related.

[@AstroTibs]

The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

[@ellevictor474]

Coconut as well... It's not Coco or cocoa nor is it a nut🤣

[@knightofcarrion7358]

yup, which is why everyone assumes if i eat peanut butter I will die. When that is no where near the case

[@ayu8629]

@@ellevictor474 It is coco though. It's the _nut_ of the _coco tree's_ fruit. Hence why mer de coco is a delicacy type of coco fruit with the nut of the coco fruit being, you guessed it, the coconut

[@sydhenderson6753]

Raw peanuts do indeed taste like raw peas.

[@glenngriffon8032]

Are you telling me you don't think "Corpse Flower" is metal?

[@cyanidejunkie]

Sounds Metal AF to me... like a Metalocalypse song lol.

[@leecrawford6560]

i would rock out/ jam to a/that song

[@Onidotmoe]

It's not made of metal either

[@glenngriffon8032]

@@Onidotmoe it is metal. It is the blackest metal. The most brutal metal. Blacker then void beyond space, harder than a thousand diamonds. (and yes I know you meant metal as in a type of elemental crystal. I just wanted to do my best Nathan Explosion)

[@glenngriffon8032]

@@cyanidejunkie Brutal.

[@dulcimerrafi]

Guy 1: "This tastes like chicken." Guy 2: "If it tastes like chicken, then it's a chicken."

[@Kartoffelkamm]

Guy 3: "Ok, I ran some tests, and apparently there are a lot of humans here."

[@jenjung577]

Guy1:... Guy2:what

[@aiko9393]

Everything tastes like chicken.

[@ThrottleKitty]

Biologist 1: "What do we name this spikey lizard? Biologist 2: "Horny toad!" Biologist 1: "It's spiked, not horned, and it's not even a toad!" Biologist 2: **shrug**

[@arthas640]

Sometimes the people naming things are giving too much power. The region I live in had almost everything named by the men on a single ship of explorers. They named nearly every mountain, harbor, sound, bay, major river, major island, major peninsula, or other distinguishing feature after themselves. There 2 cities, a valley, and a couple of islands that I can think of all named after the quarter master of the ship for example and there was even a peninsula that had to be renamed because they did a quick drive by and assumed it was an island. At one point people got kinda pissed that the captain Keating naming the biggest stuff after himself do the navigator got next dibs and ended up getting the actual biggest mountsin for 300+ miles named after himself (along with a city, a river, a valley, etc) and they started running low on names so they'd just half ass it and name places "mossy rock" and "green valley" or "rocky beach".

[@Beryllahawk]

Having caught many a horny toad as a kid growing up in Western Texas - they act a bit like toads, and when you're in the desert there aren't many other frogs OR toads to compare the poor lizards to...so it's squatty shaped and it hops, it's a toad! Kid reasoning, of course. The fun challenge for me was always managing to capture one without getting poked AND without actually panicking the poor critter into squirting blood at me. Though at the time I thought the blood was some sort of venom! Definitely attributing fearsome traits to a relatively innocent creature, haha!

[@RickySTT]

The archipelago I live on was named after an imaginary saint’s 11,000 (count ’em) imaginary bridesmaids. The person who named us was himself named after an imaginary saint. He was a genocidal butcher who got lost, so of course we honor him with a holiday tomorrow.

[@glenngriffon8032]

@@RickySTT Well come shake the hand of america and our columbus day, a day honoring a rapist who took and sold indigenous people into slavery, and made the claim that he discovered the continent in spite of the fact that thousands of people were already living here.

[@Hunnter2k3]

Biologist 2: Ultimate POWAH!

[@krovek]

IIRC The "straw" in strawberry comes from the practice of covering the dirt in the strawberry patch with loose straw. The straw inhibits weed growth and the decomposition of the straw adds warmth, moisture and nutrients to the soil for the strawberry plants.

[@SiqueScarface]

And that's why it is called Erdbeere ("earth berry") in German, because if you don't put straw around the berry, it lies on the bare earth.

[@TheTwick]

Yosemite Sam used to shout “GREAT HORNY TOADS”!

[@AstroTibs]

Especially when he got blood squirted on him

[@LaGuerre19]

@@AstroTibs lmao

[@Eric_D_6]

Now I just want to walk up to someone eating a strawberry and say, 'that's not a berry', then pull out a banana and say 'this is a berry'. lol

[@jaschabull2365]

Bonus points if you say it in Crocodile Dundee's accent.

[@LovelyAngel.]

I would respond with "it's not a straw either"

[@supersmily5811]

WHOA WAIT A MINUTE. You gonna explain how a species recovered with 2 remaining individuals? That's well below the minimum for genetic diversity right?

[@absalomdraconis]

Depends on the species, and you can always _try_ to force it with sheer raw numbers-per-generation, and besides, it's _less_ than 200 now, despite the harvest numbers previously being a thousand or more: has it _really_ recovered, or is it in intensive care? Because "permanent hunting ban" says "intensive care" to me. Incidentally, it's thought that the cheetahs were reduced to a single breeding female during the most recent ice age.

[@supersmily5811]

@@absalomdraconis Comparitively recovered. I'm not saying that the species isn't still critically endangered, obviously. However, there is no sheer numbers game you can play with genetic diversity. That's called imbreeding, and leads to far to many also obvious side-effects to be a viable strategy. By all accounts, these critters should be screwed.

[@supersmily5811]

@@absalomdraconis As for the cheetahs, I've not heard of this before, but without human intervention they wouldn't still be alive so it seems unlikely that they'd recover on their own from near-extinction during a debatably harsher time than the present.

[@ZombieBarioth]

@supersmily 5 Actually there is. Did you know the cavendish banana, the one that's currently endangered, is basically all clones of one another? Genetic diversity itself is basically a numbers game. The issue with inbreeding is that you're relying on naturally occurring genetic mutations to pop up and rediversify on it's own. Its not actually bad until something goes wrong, namely a disease or harmful mutation catches on, in which case it can spread like wildfire. That's what is happening to the cavendish banana right now, a particular fungis is spreading.

[@supersmily5811]

@@ZombieBarioth Cloning doesn't count. While it can sustain a population, the banana clones aren't a viable populace as they would have been destroyed without being cloned and removed from the threat entirely. Clones create the same individual repeatedly rather than genetically diverse bodies, that's the point.

[@MegaWolffreak22]

"Blindschleiche" actually translates to "blind sneaker (as in someone that sneaks everywhere instead of walking). No idea where you got the other translation it's always funny to hear those things as a native speaker and go "wait what thats not....that not what that means though." Happens so often xD

[@josarah5033]

Thought so too😅 The first part could maybe be that they thought it was 'blend' as in blenden instead of blind or maybe just thought it's the same as blind-ing, idk tho and even less about the second part lol

[@josarah5033]

Also 'schleichen' are actually a class of animals and specifically reptiles so if not for the literal translation this doesn't make any sense either

[@rdreher7380]

Ok, it's hard to find more detailed information on this, but this one source might shed some light on this: tierdoku.com/index.php?title=Blindschleiche According to the source, "Blindschleiche" developed out of the Althochdeutsch term "Plintslicho" which did in fact mean "blendende Schleiche." If this is correct, it would suggest the idea of "Blind" is a folk etymology or reanalysis. Folk etymology or reanalysis refers to when the speakers of a language lose connection to what roots the word actually came from, and then start to think of it as coming from different ones. For example, in English we have the word "outrage," which derives from Old French "outrage" which came from earlier "oltrage," which in tern came from the vulgar Latin word "ultraticum," the root being Latin "ultra." However, most English speakers look at that word and think it is a combination of the words "out" and "rage." This kind of reanalyzing the components of a word can influence how it is pronounced, spelled, and understood, so in some ways the "folk" etymology of the word becomes intertwined with its real origins, so even if the idea of "plint/ bendende" is right, it might not be wrong to say "Blindschleiche" refers to "blind," since so many people would now understand it that way. Or perhaps it is just simply from "blind," and Hank and the scishow team got it wrong. I'd like to know what they read in the first place that suggested otherwise.

[@jacktheripperVII]

I Can confirm this comment

[@Matty0311MMS]

As a german I was confused as well, but I looked it up, before commenting, and Hank is right. The name comes from middle high german, and it really meant "shiny" not "blind". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Flamingbob25]

me: Hey look its a snake a biologist: actually thats a legless lizard me: ... okay

[@huldu]

Humans: these frogs will last forever they'll never go extinct! Fungus: hold my beer.

[@itsmeblank4028]

Sad but try

[@anarchyantz1564]

Well it does make a change from humans making them go extinct directly, though likely it was due to humans tracking the fungus over there in the first place.

[@itsmeblank4028]

@@anarchyantz1564 Humans are actually the reason if I correct the fungi orgininted in Asia, correct if I am wrong been the Internet that goes without saying

[@rainbow_vader]

The mountain chicken: neither a mountain, nor a chicken

[@myrmatta1]

"Elongated reptile" sounds like some kind of weird euphemism.

[@2yearoldeastercandy935]

I absolutely love the origin of the milk snake’s common name. Some farmers thought these snakes where hanging around their cows cause they were stealing their milk. They eventually found out that the snakes were after mice not milk, but it was too late and the name stuck

[@Catlily5]

And I always assumed they were milky looking (though I never saw one).

[@mikaelkjericsson]

Well, top this. In Swedish, strawberry is called "jordgubbe", which translates roughly to "old dirt man" or "earth geezer".

[@lightningbug6234]

I'd like to ask, ...why?

[@kristianfagerstrom7011]

@@lightningbug6234 "gubbe" original meaning "small lump" - (regional dialect) Etymology 1841

[@kristianfagerstrom7011]

@@lightningbug6234 "jord" - Earth / dirt - so small lump (that grows near) earth I guess - sounds a lot more accurate than strawberry :-) -but strawberry is a farmed version of "smultron" (looks like a tiny strawberry) Smultron - Fragaria vesca Strawberry - Fragaria × ananassa

[@haroldsaxon1075]

Most common nuts aren't technically nuts. peanuts, pecans, cashews. None of them are nuts.

[@Roomsaver]

Walnuts, peanuts, pineapple smells. (Grapes, melons, oranges, and coconut shells. Ahh yeah!)

[@vgil1278]

Why not cashews or pecans?

[@joemother6200]

V Gil cashews are an accessory fruit, growing from the bottom of the cashew apple

[@gingermcgingin1733]

Peanuts are actually a type of pea.

[@JohnCena8351]

I love Hanks attempt to say "Blindschleiche" lol.

[@briannaschultz7420]

"They're also not walls I guess" *spits out rice*

[@Midwest_Lizard_Mom]

I love how animated/clearly amused Hank is by the Mountain Chicken!

[@fuzzymilk]

The name for slowworm over here would translate into copper lizard, I'd like to say that's a way nicer name for such a neat creature

[@sleepingcity85]

@@eier3252 blind sneaky thing is not a real good translation after all. its "blind Anguidae". "blind sneak" would be translate to "Blindschleicher" which isnt quite correct either but comes close.

[@kelzbelz313]

That’s a much more accurate name.

[@gartengeflugel924]

About the walnuts: we at least learned in university that by the latest definition walnuts are actual nuts. All three layers of the pericarp are hard and woody and the fleshy, fibrous part around it is actually formed from the base of the fruit, not from the fruit itself (similar to apple type fruits).

[@juancarloszamorasenoret9040]

Neither the three layers of the fruit in Juglans are hard and woody, nor the fruit is indehiscent as it should be in a nut. It is better called a tryma than a drupe, though.

[@RickySTT]

With so many of my favorite nuts being declared “not nuts,” I’ve decided that if it looks like a nut, tastes like a nut, and crunches like a nut, I’m going to call it a nut. (Likewise, Hank will not change what he puts in his berry muffins.)

[@sebastianelytron8450]

Speaking of terrible names, did you hear about the drummer who gave his daughters all the same name? Anna 1 Anna 2 Anna 3 Anna 4

[@dandylionwine]

*ba-dum-TSH*

[@fireandcopper]

Wahh wahhhh

[@daniellezepess]

LOL

[@monroerobbins7551]

DAMN IT. I’m not mad, perfect timing, perfect setting, but somehow I’m still mad.

[@LmaoMoni]

Thats unironically how ancient greeks named their kids

[@OakenTome]

Common names can be the bane of a tarantula enthusiast’s existence. There are several species referred to as “Mexican Red Knee” or “Mexican Fire Leg”. Considering how many of these species there are, and how different they can be, this can cause an unnecessary amount of confusion among those that are maybe not reliant or knowledge on scientific names as they should be.

[@SpiderdayNightLive]

what does this tarantula eat?" "Mostly bugs, small lizards, maybe some mice." If we put it a tiny bird in front of it, would the spider eat it? "I mean, maybe but the bird would just... fly.. away first" BIRD-EATER TARANTULA IT IS

[@Xenesthis741]

lets call the oldworld tarantulas Earth Tigers !!

[@lucasbeck1391]

@@SpiderdayNightLive BIRD-SPIDER

[@suelane3628]

I wasn't so bothered about the names as I was clearing rubbish and opened a mysterious tin. Inside there are two large hairy spider skins/sloughs! What is worrying I don't even remember how they came into my possession.

[@DeRien8]

7:40, couldn't pull that fast one on me. I have cats! I know that tail twitch means pooping!

[@light-master]

Was just about to comment that too. Dogs do that as well, or at least mine does. She also thinks that she's a 60 lb lap dog, so not sure she's got all her marbles anyways, lol.

[@snowball_from_earth]

Same. I wonder if that was done on purpose...

[@vgil1278]

DeRien8 Can't get any privacy. Now he's on KZbin!

[@chaffejcarraway]

Thanks guys, some of those names have been be crux of my deep hidden pain for many years. You have helped begun the process of healing.

[@loganl3746]

Finally some botany! And my boy Amorphophallus! For more botanical misnomers, how about Liriodendron tulipifera? Common names include Tulip tree (not a Tulip) and Tulip Poplar (not a Poplar), and the Latin name means "lily tree" (not a Lily). The flowers it makes do look like tulips, I'll admit. Also lol is that red panda pooping at 7:45?

[@That-Google-Guy]

12:22 LMAO “nutty-tasting droop” had me dying!

[@sls8830]

Peanuts also not a nut but people allergic to tree nuts are often also allergic to walnuts and peanuts.

[@Agaettis]

Uep, peanuts are legumes which puts them in the bean family

[@kelzbelz313]

Yep, some people with severe peanut allergy need to use caution when eating vegan protein powders because they use pea protein isolate (anther legume) which can sometime trigger an allergy.

[@TheGr8FryingPan]

Just so ya know, the german name for slowworm 'blindschleiche' really doesnt translate to shining snake in any way :P. It means blind crawler or sneaker :)

[@prunabluepepper]

Ja, i really wonder how he ended up with that mistake. Seltsam.

[@annabeinglazy5580]

exactly what I was thinking :D I never thought of themas "shining snakes" when the literal translation is "blind sneaking thing" ... nothing shiny about that

[@galli0]

Could it be a blinding snake? As in its shiny so its blinding you? atleast in norwegian blind is the same, but 'blindene' means something is bright enough to blind you, and if its so shiny maybe the sun get caught in it and it blinds you.. idk just a linguistic leap i guess

[@Roomsaver]

@@galli0 Could've been a typo when translating it

[@snowball_from_earth]

The German name changed just like the English one. Originally it did mean shining "schleiche", but now it just sounds like blind sneaker. He was technically correct, but he should have compared that translation to the original English name, not the modern one.

[@terryturley7473]

Does a Red Panda take a dump in the woods? I guess so 7:40.

[@JamesDavy2009]

They also don't sing death metal unless they're on Netflix.

[@jimbrewer498]

You noticed that too?

[@Aeturnalis]

Blindschleiche means something like "blind slither." The word for snake is Schlange, shining/shiny is glänzend, so shiny snake would be something like Glänzschlange or glänzende Schlange.

[@Matticitt]

7:38 well, I sure did not expect to watch red not-panda pooping today but here I am.

[@VeryLastIfried]

I could be wrong on this, but as a German speaker and a herpetologist I think that "Schleiche" is never used in the context of a snake. Today at least every common name I know that includes "Schleiche" describes a lizard (often legless but not necessarily). It is absolutely possible though that the word originates as a term used for snakes. At least today though the German name is not terrible anymore. (=

[@doggfite]

According to one of the researchers at the Hogle Zoo in Utah, who have a mating pair of Red Pandas, "Panda" means "bamboo eater" in mandarin, this their name, not just because the eat bamboo like "real" pandas, but because that's just what the word means.

[@PorpoiseInATent]

also they were "dicovered" like 50 years before giant pandas

[@KellyClowers]

My understanding is that we don't know for sure where the term panda came from, though it could be a corruption of the second part of nigálya-pónya, a local Tibetan name. Regardless, red pandas have the priority claim on the name, as someone else mentioned they were given the name panda by westerners many years before we encountered the giant panda

[@yonabelle8938]

As a person who lives in the Caribbean, no insult to you or your editor, it was simply hilarious hearing how you pronounced "Montserrat" and "Dominica". Thanks for the good laugh.

[@Mamolox]

The dutch word for leopard is “luipaard”. “Lui” means lazy and “paard” means horse so i guess that makes it a lazy horse.

[@DARIO4Cq]

False etymology actually. The origin of the word is traced to Latin leo "lion" and pardus, possibly "panther". So it would mean a lion-panther and by borrowing into Dutch it ended up with the same sounds as "lui" and "paard". :)

[@Mamolox]

@@DARIO4Cq yeah I know I didn't mean it that way. Thought it's pretty funny anyway but thanks for making that clear :)

[@illiengalene2285]

Blindschleiche doesn't mean shiny snakes it means blinding sneaker, close, but not good translated. Sorry I'm native German and study their habitats and population for NABU.

[@gideonshandy4543]

Sneaky Blinders?

[@illiengalene2285]

@@gideonshandy4543 schleichen= to sneak/creep/tiptoe/lurk (moving silently) "Blind" from 'blenden'=blinding (making someone unable to see). So in order from the name

[@daskalospapas1883]

Deine Übersetzung ist näher dran, aber dennoch falsch. Deine Übersetzung würde bedeuten, dass es blendende Schleiche heisst.

[@illiengalene2285]

@@daskalospapas1883 das ist der Ursprung des Namens, ja. Bzw Blendender Schleicher. Was durch Verschleifung passierte. 《Die Verschleifung, auch Enklise (griech. égklisis, ,das Hinneigen‘) ist ein Phänomen der gesprochenen Sprache bei dem zwei Wörter zu einem Wort verkürzt werden.》 《Der deutsche Name wird aber auf das Althochdeutsche plintslîchozurückgeführt, was nach allgemeiner Auffassung soviel wie „blendender/blinkender Schleicher“ bedeutet und sich auf das Glänzen der glatten Schuppenhaut sowie die typische Fortbewegung beziehen dürfte. 》

[@snowball_from_earth]

Because they are shiny they are blinding.

[@axiomostanes]

"Also not walls" *Plants vs Zombies wants to know your location*

[@p1ll]

Excellent video . Thank you !

[@stoneylonesome7]

The corspe flower is awesome! You guys should do a list of the top ten (or however many) biggest flowers in the world, I attempted a search for a video like that on KZbin and found very little.

[@asiburger]

Wait. Blindschleiche comes from "blendend" as in shining (or blending)? I thought it came, for what ever reason, from "blind" which just means blind. Like.. blind stalker. Though they aren't blind, are they?

[@kourii]

Yeah no I think Hank is mistaken on this one. I think they were called 'blind' because of their tiny eyes. They can also be called 'blindworms' in English

[@mugginsthejinx1037]

Yeah. I grew up in Germany and the other kids called me a Blindschleiche because I had really strong glasses 🤓

[@asiburger]

@@mugginsthejinx1037 well, guess I was one of said kids. :D

[@annabeinglazy5580]

if it ever came from anything other than "blind", it has lost that meaning a long time ago. As Muggins The Jinx said, it can also be used as a derogatory term for someone who does not see well, so the association with being "blind" has obviously stuck.

[@rdreher7380]

Ok, it's hard to find more detailed information on this, but this one source might shed some light on this: tierdoku.com/index.php?title=Blindschleiche According to the source, "Blindschleiche" developed out of the Althochdeutsch term "Plintslicho" which did in fact mean "blendende Schleiche." If this is correct, it would suggest the idea of "Blind" is a folk etymology or reanalysis. Folk etymology or reanalysis refers to when the speakers of a language lose connection to what roots the word actually came from, and then start to think of it as coming from different ones. For example, in English we have the word "outrage," which derives from Old French "outrage" which came from earlier "oltrage," which in tern came from the vulgar Latin word "ultraticum," the root being Latin "ultra." However, most English speakers look at that word and think it is a combination of the words "out" and "rage." This kind of reanalyzing the components of a word can influence how it is pronounced, spelled, and understood, so in some ways the "folk" etymology of the word becomes intertwined with its real origins, so even if the idea of "plint/ bendende" is write, it might not be wrong to say "Blindschleiche" refers to "blind," since so many people would now understand it that way. Or perhaps it is just simply from "blind," and Hank and the scishow team got it wrong. I'd like to know what they read in the first place that suggested otherwise.

[@absalomdraconis]

Well Hank, it's like this: _eventually you have to throw all the scientists in jail for trying to redefine nuts._ I'll give them peanuts (not a nut at _all_ ), and even cashews, but walnuts have been nuts _longer_ than scientists have been claiming otherwise, _so the scientists are wrong._ If they want a word for their category that includes some nuts but not walnuts or pecans, then they can go invent a new one, because "nut" is already allocated to the _contrary_ of their desires.

[@kevinwells9751]

I don't mind there being a difference between the culinary and scientific uses of words. I don't mind tomatoes being biologically a fruit and culinarily a vegetable, and I don't mind a peanut being biologically a legume and culinarily a nut. Yes, it is sometimes better for scientists to come up with a new word to describe a category in order to be less confusing, but in the end it doesn't really matter as long as people keep context in mind

[@emilynightingale7758]

i loved this episode, please do more videos on phylogeny and classification!

[@Tringolew]

Great video thanks for the consistently great content. I don't know what I learned more from, my degree in animal behaviour or watching scishow on the couch at home!

[@robertross2164]

"Its not a snake it's A legless lizard." And thats how we get good t-shirt memes

[@stephenbenner4353]

Of course the mountain chicken tastes like chicken. As we know, everything taste like chicken.

[@jimbrewer498]

Except chicken after McDonald's gets a hold of it.

[@Beryllahawk]

Happy to say I did know about walnuts as drupes already (thanks Good Eats) - as walnuts share that with, for instance, pecans. Drupes are interesting! I wonder if y'all might - eventually - do a video looking into how the idea of "beans" has changed over time? I've been doing a bit of reading and am fascinated by how - for European cookery - the "bean" discussed in the 15th Century is not at all the same plant as the one discussed in the 19th Century. But I have yet to find some good information as to WHY that change took place, and whether or not it's been true of other crops, or other cultures. Was it simply because plants brought in from colonies were so much better somehow? Was there something wrong with the original bean crop? (Which apparently, were once just "beans" or possibly referred to as "broad beans" and now are "fava beans"...) It just seems like there's more to learn here than what I've dug up on my own and it interests me. :)

[@NK-..]

I think Hank had way too much fun with this one! Love it!

[@RickySTT]

Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are fruits. Wisdom is not putting them in a fruit salad.

[@metamorphicorder]

Actually SOME tomatoes are perfectly fine to include in a fruit salad. Just like some strawberries are perfect to include in a mixed greens sald.

[@RickySTT]

I just printed an ‘R’ in a graphics program, flipped it, and rotated it.

[@captainrobots1]

I collected fresh walnuts Just over 2 weeks ago. Also a good stain.

[@DelphiaStrickland]

Hank is my favorite! So animated and entertaining!!

[@ogcurly6256]

Every time I watch a scishow episode, I always breathe a sigh of relief when I see Hank as the host

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

In Russia the legless lizards are called Sheltopusik (yellow-bellied) which is a better sounding name for it

[@cuba6959]

que pinga

[@alextheaxolotl3031]

Avery the Cuban-American but that’s a different species and that is its scientific name where as the slow worm is just its common name

[@andrewstrongman305]

Australia's Thorny Devil is a little lizard that looks like it would hurt to touch it, but I caught one once and the 'spines' are quite soft. Don't worry I released it unharmed.

[@MossyQuartz]

In the 1960's we still could find "horned-toads" where I grew up, but I was too young to know anything about blood squirting or lizard tails. I was so charmed by how adorable the spike-covered lizard looked as it sunned itself behind our house, I knelt next to it and wrapped my little-kid hands around its soft flat tummy and picked it up and admired its tiny face. I put it down again after I finished admiring it. It didn't squirt blood at me and it didn't swing its head to poke me or any of that. Maybe it was a mellow critter; I don't know. Twenty years later, I read that they were endangered in that valley. I never saw any in the wild in the Los Angeles area after 1970.

[@jaschabull2365]

You mean thorny devils? Those prickly-looking lizards that eat lots of ants?

[@andrewstrongman305]

@@jaschabull2365 I'm not sure how I mixed up the name, thanks for letting me know. :)

[@jaschabull2365]

@@andrewstrongman305 It very well might be called that by others, common names can get pretty diverse (especially for things like cougars or isopods)

[@andrewstrongman305]

@@jaschabull2365 Yes, those "spines" are for show, they are actually soft to touch. The lizard itself isn't covered in hard scales either. They depend on bluff and speed for protection.

[@MalcolmCooks]

I also have an amorphophallus titanum

[@LeatherNeck1833]

Thanks for showing the Red Panda pooping 7:38! So much for eating while watching your show.

[@unicornswag888]

*I think my name is pretty accurate.*

[@likebot.]

Speaking of terrible names, you aren't even _the_ muscle hank :( But hi anyway.

[@wdalts]

Even your words have muscles

[@OpEditorial]

Can we also admit (while we're on the subject) that "drupe" is also a pretty awful description particularly for something associated with nuts 🤔

[@spindash64]

I’ve heard that Strawberry is another lost in translation. It used to be “Stray Berry”, since it can use runners to propegate as well as normal fruit

[@TheGrenvil]

Actually no, it's called strawberry because, in order to produce them you have to take care of not allowing it to touch the ground, otherwise it will damage the fruit, to do that, farmers used to (and still do) cover the field with straw.

[@AstroTibs]

@@TheGrenvil According to this link: www.strawberries-for-strawberry-lovers.com/origin-of-the-word-strawberry.html That's not true either. Dr. William Sayers proposes that the most likely origin of the name is from how, as a result of the way the fruit is spread by animals and how it grows near the ground, the fruit appears strewn.

[@asiddiqui9346]

Nice explaining.

[@oldrabbit8290]

and here i am, hoping that the "horny" toad may have some weird way of reproduction to live up to its name..

[@seatbelttruck]

...Since Giant Pandas are now classified as bears again, and Red Pandas are the only ones in their family, wouldn't they be the real pandas?

[@davidwesley2525]

50 years ago Giant Pandas 🐼 were placed in the same Family as Raccoons.

[@seatbelttruck]

​@@davidwesley2525 I know. 50 years ago we couldn't sequence their DNA. When we did, we found out they were bears.

[@jimbrewer498]

I grew up in Illinois where the walnut tree abounds, we also had chestnut, hickory and just about any other nut (or drupe) you could imagine. Harvesting and preparing the walnuts was hard, you have to peel off that thick outer covering, which is not soft at all to prepare each individual "drupe" for drying or roasting. We'd do this every fall when I was growing up, the reward was worth it though especially come winter when we'd shovel the chestnuts into the fireplace and listen to them pop and sputter then eating them while they were still warm.

[@masterimbecile]

In Taiwan we call frogs "field chickens" (田雞, tian2 ji1), and these field chickens are commonly eaten. We also call someone who wears glasses a "four-year frog" (四眼田雞, sir yan3 tian2 ji1). It is generally a derogatory term, although people have taken to use it as an affectionate nickname as well.

[@jimbrewer498]

The Chinese will eat anything with 4 legs, except perhaps a table.

[@thanrose]

Binomial nomenclature. Learn it, love it, get the T-shirt.

[@Keallei]

thanrose Binomial nomenclature, or nom nom for short.

[@tzwacdastag8223]

If a frog can be called a chicken, can a chicken be also called a frog

[@kristianfagerstrom7011]

"Winged flightless frog" for dinner

[@jaschabull2365]

@@kristianfagerstrom7011 Isn't calling a frog flightless redundant?

[@EveryDayALittleDeath]

"Walnuts aren't nuts" Me, someone with a deathly tree nut allergy: Why do they make me need my epipen, then? I'm not allergic to anything else.

[@pepesylvia848]

Because you're allergic to them.

[@xck]

“Walnuts aren’t walls, either, I guess” good observation. are you sure?

[@davidbuschhorn6539]

"Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever" Not a problem west of the Mississippi. :) It's an east coast disease.

[@TerrariaGolem]

*I live in New Jersey* :o

[@anarchyantz1564]

@@TerrariaGolem Thank you Oath and welcome to the New Jersey anonymous group. Remember all, admitting you live in New Jersey is the first step towards leading a normal life!

[@TerrariaGolem]

@@anarchyantz1564 I cry... Florida Man could never beat New Jersey Man. That man memes from the shadows.

[@anarchyantz1564]

@@TerrariaGolem I genuinely laughed out loud at that!

[@professorpancakes6545]

So that's why they call bats "chicken of the cave"

[@joec8750]

I'm lucky enough to have visited those 2 islands in 01. I heard their calls but I think people knew they were getting rare because we were not encouraged to catch or eat them. And we have glass snakes in florida that are pretty much sloworms, they are called glass cuz of the tail drop thing

[@Aeturnalis]

Walnut actually comes from Germanic roots meaning "foreign nut." The Wal- part means foreign, and is derived from the name of a Celtic tribe, the Wolkai. Wolkai, in turn, comes from a Celtic word meaning "hawk," which itself comes from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "bad." So walnut could be called Celtnut, hawknut, or badnut.

[@Dark23KnightGames]

Another: “Bony-eared assfish” which isn’t a fish, it’s actually a kind of cusk-eel

[@onytay75]

Cusk-eel sounds bad

[@kristianfagerstrom7011]

There's no such thing as a fish

[@Agaettis]

Assfish??! I'm done! Love it!

[@AstroTibs]

But is it an ass

[@pepesylvia848]

Most people consider all eels to be fish

[@sussekind9717]

Blind scheiche doesn't mean shining snake in German. It means blind slither. This is obviously because they are virtually blind and slither. Please recheck your sources. Also, a fun fact, the "straw" part of strawberry used to actually be strewberry. Because the berries were strewn amongst the leaves.

[@92Hidden]

Says the guy who could do a quick Google search to see blind doesn't come from the German word Blind and they're also not blind.

[@kourii]

The 'straw' part of 'straw' also comes from 'strew', because straw is strewn about.

[@sussekind9717]

@@92Hidden I never said they were blind, I said virtually blind, as they have poor eyesight. Secondly, did you even look at my name? I am German. I require no Google searches.

[@92Hidden]

@@sussekind9717 apparently you do require a Google search as it would have told you that the blind part derives from old German and not modern German and does not mean blind...

[@sussekind9717]

@@92Hidden You keep telling me I'm wrong, but you are unable to explain how I'm wrong. Please explain what it means.

[@chillsahoy2640]

Oh silk worms! They're adorable, and when I was a child growing up in Spain in the 2000s, it became a fad to keep silk worms as pets (at least in Valencia?). Keep them for a few generations and you might start to see some interesting mutations crop up.

[@somnambulnation5681]

The phrase, "Nutty-tasting Drupe" made my day! I will now strive to make this phrase ubiquitous. Thanks!

[@Mariechenabsent]

Blindschleiche actually also translates to blind sneaker (from sneaking, not the shoe), not shining snake... Also that pronunciation was really off, Hank, sorry 😂

[@DAYBROK3]

Mariechenabsent the word for snake is wourm isn’t it?

[@Mariechenabsent]

​@@DAYBROK3 No, snake actually translates to "Schlange". The English word for worm is almost the same in German, it is "Wurm". The used word of "Schleiche" is a term from the nomenclature of lizards and very uncommon, as it just refers to the ones without limbs - so the term is very confusing, but accurate .. except for the blindness bit 😂

[@k.f4525]

The German word for turtle is "Schildkröte" which translates to "shield toad" and I think that's beautiful

[@jesseburton4997]

Made my day at the end when the frog picture pops up as he says " the mountain chicken " haha dang

[@girlwiththegami9046]

You had me at MOUNTAIN CHICKEN!!! Laughing for years!

[@dvklaveren]

TLDR: Scientific definitions came after language developed, so most definitions in science don't agree with the language they are based on. So, really, it's scientists who couldn't be original. :P

[@spira4147]

big brain

[@michaelsoeffing3131]

you pronounce dominica like dom-in-eek-ah, really stress the second i

[@jacklynhanson8499]

Black walnuts grew wild around my childhood home. For fun, we would pick them up and make tossing games from them. Still love the smell!

[@rshiell3]

Slow worms also live on Bruce peninsula, in Ontario. I have seen one in the wild there.

[@beastlydookie81]

Like most rappers these days

[@thecoffeegod]

Terrible names for living things? You should talk to my ex.

[@PaulSteMarie]

Where's the link to the other episode of bad animal names? Not seeing it among the dozens of links provided.

[@thisonetime410]

Can you do an episode on SIBO medical condition?

[@David_T]

A cousin of the Slow Worm in Florida is the 'Glass Snake', which also belongs in this show.

[@TheBalloonFish]

The slowworm is known in Sweden as ”kopparorm” or ”kopparödla”, which literally translates to ”copper snake/lizard”!

[@erneizhyde2660]

When it's at the walnut part, I am instantly reminded of the song "da coconut nut".

[@ianhall7513]

Were strawberries often found in or near barns prior to us growing them ourselves? Is that where the straw part came from?